Social

Messaging giant WhatsApp is experimenting with giving businesses verified accounts on its platform. In an FAQ on its website the company notes that some business accounts will be displayed with a green tick badge next to them — which denotes that WhatsApp has “confirmed” their phone number belongs to a business account, though it does

As Rafiki once said, “It is time.” Tinder Gold, the dating app’s new premium subscription tier (which includes a feature that lets you see who’s already liked you without any swiping) is finally rolling out to the U.S. Tinder Gold and Likes You were originally tested in Argentina, Australia, Canada and Mexico at the end

Facebook says it’s taking another step against Pages that share fabricated news stories. The company has already been working with outside fact-checkers like Snopes and the AP to flag inaccurate news stories. (These aren’t supposed to be stories that are disputed for reasons of opinion or partisanship, but rather outright hoaxes and lies.) It also

Facebook says it’s looking to become more open and transparent about its decisions, and it’s hired Liz Spayd, a former public editor of The New York Times, to consult on the process. The hire comes as Facebook — or at least, parts of Facebook — seems to be wrestling with its role in the public

Wattpad, the social publishing platform behind apps for sharing original stories and chat fiction, is today venturing into video with the launch of a new app called Raccoon. Unlike its predecessors, Raccoon will focus on non-fiction video-based storytelling, with the goal of connecting people who want to create and watch stories that either entertain or

Facebook today is expanding on the popularity of its two-year old “On This Day” sharing prompt, with the addition of new features that let users revisit their memories, as well as celebrate milestones related to their friendships on the social network. While “On This Day” provides a look back in time, starting with memories from

Facebook is faced with yet another content-related scandal, after The Times newspaper reported that people traffickers and slave traders are using its platform to broadcast videos of migrants being tortured to try to extort money from their families. According to the newspaper’s report, footage showing Libyan gangmasters threatening the lives of migrants had remained on

Adding real-world diversity to emoji is a work in progress, but with platforms spanning the entire glove, it’s clearly important to big companies like Facebook. The social network just rolled out a set of new “family” emoji that, while they don’t yet capture the full spectrum, at least let your partner and kids have something

Amazon’s Influencer Program, a service that allows social media personalities to earn commissions on the Amazon products they promote, is now accepting sign-ups from YouTube influencers who want to participate. Last Thursday, Amazon quietly enabled a self-service tool for YouTube stars that lets them request to join the highly-vetted program, which had first launched into

Veteran Facebook exec Andrew “Boz” Bosworth is taking over consumer hardware efforts at the company, including projects under groups like Building 8 and Oculus. The announcement was made internally by Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer, Business Insider reports. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the appointment to TechCrunch. Bosworth, who joined Facebook in January of 2006, has been

Remember Valerie Plame Wilson? The former CIA agent, who got involved in what became known as the “Plame Affair,” has a solution for ridding Twitter of America’s favorite troll. Wilson launched a fundraiser last week to buy the social media service, tweeting: So far, Wilson has raised just $12,000 of the $1 billion she’s seeking.

Facebook has been a big supporter of 360-degree photos and video, adding support for the immersive media formats early on Facebook itself. Now, the social tech company is adding support for capturing 360-degree photos right within the Facebook app itself. The 360 photo capability is rolling out across both iOS and Android starting today, and

Musical.ly, an app best known for its lip-syncing music videos, but which has more recently begun to air shows from Viacom, NBCU and Hearst, is today rolling out an overhaul of its mobile app that will put an increased emphasis on personalization and recommendations. Most notably, the update includes a new “similar musical.lys” feature that

Snapchat could start offering original scripted content very soon, according to its content lead Nick Bell (via Variety). Snapchat has already done a lot with creators to build shows, including tie-ins for big broadcast hits like The Voice and The Bachelor, and it’s also working with A&E on reality TV via Second Chance, a dating

Video is the name of the game in social networking: sites like Facebook and Twitter have been doubling down on the medium in recent years to drive more traffic and engagement from users, and also as a platform to snare more premium advertising away from traditional television broadcasters; Snapchat put video at the core of

Facebook is losing appeal among teens and young adults which is contributing to generally slowing growth for the platform, according to the latest projections from research firm eMarketer. At the same time alternative social apps Snapchat and (Facebook-owned) Instagram are seeing rising and double-digit growth in the same youth demographic — suggesting younger users are

Facebook is giving its “Safety Check” feature a permanent home in its app and on the desktop, the company announced today. The feature, which lets you check to see whether friends and family are safe following a crisis, will now have its own dedicated button in the app’s navigation menu and will be available via

Should your parents be able to read your Facebook messages if you die? Facebook explained why it won’t let them in a post in its Hard Questions series today about social networking after death. Facebook admits it doesn’t have all the answers, but it has come up with some decent solutions to some issues with

Instagram inception, here we come. If somebody sends you a photo or video in a private conversation on Instagram, the app will now let you play around with the original photo so that you can reply in a creative way and keep the context of the conversation. If you receive a photo or video, there’s

Gab, the conservative social network that has acted as a haven for people banned from the usual platforms, has been removed from the Google Play Store for violating the company’s hate speech policy, the company announced on Twitter. Apple rejected it from the App Store in June for similar reasons. That policy is pretty straightforward:

Ever gotten tricked into clicking a fake play button on Facebook that opens a link instead of starting a video? I did, repeatedly, and wrote a story in 2014 titled “Yo Facebook, Ban Links With Fake Video Play Buttons”. Now Facebook is doing just that. Today it started downranking the News Feed presence of links

In June, Microsoft introduced a completely revamped version of its Skype app, designed with a heavier focus on media-sharing, and other social expression tools, like emoji, reactions, and even a Snapchat-like stories feature. Now that new experience is rolling out to desktop users, but in a more limited fashion, Microsoft announced this morning. The new

Rebooting the venerable Nokia smartphone brand has not been a rush job for HMD Global, the Foxconn-backed company set up for the purpose of licensing the Nokia name to try to revive the brand’s fortunes on smartphones. But after starting with basic and mid-tier smartphones, it’s finally outted a flagship Android handset, called the Nokia

Content warning: This post contains racial slurs, homophobic language and very graphic depictions of racism and violence. If you were just paying attention to press releases, this week it’d be easy to believe that tech companies are winning the war on hate. Responding to the violence in Charlottesville, Mark Zuckerberg solemnly reflected that there is

Pinterest is adding a new feature today that allows users to pinch a photo to zoom in and out on various Pins, matching a feature that’s available on a lot of other services, like Instagram. Pinterest is trying to be a central hub of high-quality photos and videos centered around ideas and products, but this

In the latest update to its messaging app, Line has added a livestreaming feature, called Chat Live, which can be used in group or multi-person chats of up to 200 people. The company suggests a variety of uses for the live video feature — such as chatting with friends while livestreaming a sporting event or

The events that unfolded this weekend in Charlottesville, Virginia have sparked reactions from all corners of the internet. But one Twitter user, former President Barack Obama, had a response that resonated with millions. Last night, this tweet from Obama became the most-liked tweet on the platform ever, with more than 3 million likes at the

This weekend’s events in Charlottesville, VA left one person dead, 30 people injured and poured more kerosene onto the fire of national debate around hate groups and free speech. For all the decades of talk about the internet as a great uniter across geographical and ideological divides, it’s just as often used as a tool

Taking inspiration from line drawings, Reddit and Messenger, Facebook is overhauling the design of the News Feed to make it more legible, clickable and commentable. Specifically, Facebook now makes it much clearer where threads start and end in comments. Meanwhile, Instagram today got a little redesign itself with comment reels now being threaded so you

Popular voice chat platform Discord has shut down several servers and accounts associated with the alt-right for violations of the terms of service. The company announced the enforcement action on Twitter, emphasizing that it is “about positivity and inclusivity. Not hate. Not violence.” Predictably, this was quickly followed by accusations of censorship and political bias,